Douglas Adams on the English–American cultural divide over "heroes"

Summary

In 2000, Douglas Adams made an interesting observation that I keep returning to. A user on Slashdot named “FascDot Killed My Pr” had asked the following question (where HGttG = Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy): Comedy….or Tragedy? First, a big thank-you. You’ve made a lasting contribution to “our” culture (or should that be “culture”?) I first read HGttG in my early teens. I doubled over laughing the whole time. I read and reread the entire series, bought both Dirk Gently books AND Last Chance to See. Loved them all and wouldn’t trade having read them for anything. (btw, the first mental ward scene in Long Dark Teatime is a no-foolin’, all-time classic.) However, a few years ago I was talking to a (then) classmate. Very smart, philosophy-major type. He said (paraphrased) “I thought that HGttG was depressing. Such nihilism.” At the time I thought “Hmmm…I didn’t SEE a black beret on his head….”. But every reading of the series since then his comment has struck me as more true–especially in the case of Arthur Dent. In fact, far from being funny, I now find Dent’s character depressing–he’s not just a loser, he literally has no control over his life at all (except in So Long for a while). And the control he does have does him no good (e.g. Earth is destroyed while he’s trying to save his house.) So my question is: When you were writing these books did you feel you were being gaily whimsical or did you instead feel frustrated and cynical? Douglas Adams replied with: I suspect there is a cultural divide at work here. In England our heroes tend to be characters who either have, or come to realise that they have, no control over their lives whatsoever – Pilgrim, Gulliver, Hamlet, Paul Pennyfeather (from Decline and Fall), Tony Last (from A Handful of Dust). We celebrate our defeats and our withdrawals – the Battle of Hastings, Dunkirk, almost any given test match. There was a wonderful book published, oh, about twenty years ago I think, by Stephen Pile called the Book of He...